Cross-country partnership secures large steam turbine & generator reliability

Customer
 Vung Ang 1 Power Plant, PVP Ha Tinh (PVP HT) – branch of Petrovietnam Power Corporation
Location
 Ha Tinh Province, Vietnam
Industry
 Thermal power generation
Key Services

EQUIPMENT CAPACITY

600 MW

EQUIPMENT SHIPPED

218 tons

LAND AND SEA SHIPMENT DISTANCE

4,000+ km

THE IMPACT

Close customer partnership with PVP HT for turnkey restoration delivers continued energy security for local grid with high cost efficiencies.
PVP Ha Tinh’s Manager of Technical department speaks on the rationale and his experience partnering with Sulzer Services for this crucial project.

The Challenge

Mounting pressure due to unexpected technical fault and high OEM solution cost.

  • Unit-1 steam turbine generator of the 1200 MW Vung Ang thermal power plant suffered an unexpected outage.
  • The plant’s Unit-1 steam turbine & generator ran into an unexpected technical halt.
  • Most of the rotating steam path parts in the unit required repairs. The unit also suffered lack of oil lubrication, that caused the unexpected outage.
  • The OEM inspected the unit and advised PVP HT to have the turbine analyzed in-depth, with the possibility of needing a replacement. This approach may involve significant time and substantial costs.
  • Once Sulzer’s experts assessed the unit, we were able to deliver good news: Instead of replacing the turbine’s rotors, the energy supplier could reduce costs and wastage by repairing the turbine generator – extending its lifecycle and saving the customer millions in the process.
 Gallery
large steam turbine and generator repair
large steam turbine and generator repair
large steam turbine and generator repair

The Solution

COVID-19 disruption: No match for Sulzer’s expertise and flexibility

  • Shipping the faulty equipment for repairs would always be complex, however, tight COVID restrictions and supply chain constraints made the challenge even greater.
  • PVP HT needed a partner who could work fast – and avoid the supply chain issues that threatened to slow down repairs and drive up costs even further.
  • Knowing our expertise and track record in overhaul projects of this scale, and our ability to work to tight timelines, PVP HT chose Sulzer to help them restore and fix the unit.
  • We stepped up to the challenge, coordinating a major logistical operation that would transport 218 tons of equipment more than 4’000km over land and sea.
  • After thoroughly assessing the situation, we established that the main repair strategy will be to restore the integrity of all rotors using the weld repair method.
  • Submerged Arc Welding was utilised due to its high deposition rate, compatibility with such large equipment, and its ability to fulfill high technical repair requirements.
  • Weld repair on rotors is not as easy as weld repair on common workpieces. It requires high-quality material, highly skilled welders, qualified processes, and extensive experience.
  • Sulzer’s Indonesia service center is the only workshop in APAC which has such extensive experience in large rotor welding. Not many OEMs or other ISPs boast such a track record.

The complete scope of the project includes:

  • Turbine stators: Supplied new interstage packing seals, replaced seal strips, and repaired the diaphragms.
  • Generator rotor: Insulation replacement, and conducted high-speed balancing to improve performance.
  • Generator stator: Refurbished journal bearings, supplied new bearings assembly for the exciter, and repaired the generator stator and aux while onsite.
  • Generator: Rotor retaining ring removal, inspection & stress analysis by qualified metallurgical specialist.
  • Supply of quality re-insulation materials, rotor field coils, rewinding and more.
  • Parts such as generator seals, seal strips, bearings, etc were reverse engineered in-house.
  • This meant that we could avoid any supply chain issues and get work moving without delay.
  • This flexibility accelerated the repair timeline and allowed us to get the energy supplier’s unit up and running again faster.
  • Using Sulzer’s engineered parts also allows the energy supplier to turn to Sulzer for any future repairs or rapid replacement requirements, opening up significant savings for the future.

Vung Ang 1 thermal power plant critically supports Vietnam’s energy requirements for industrial and economic growth. For an overhaul of this magnitude, we needed a partner with significant expertise, experience and capabilities to restore the system to our high industry and safety standards while keeping downtime to a minimum. Following a competitive bidding process, we selected Sulzer as our partner for this project because Sulzer meets all criteria with its capacity, experience, suitable contract execution timeline.

Mr. Nguyen Quy Kien - Manager of Technical Department | PVP Ha Tinh

Explore our solutions

  • Sulzer employee at final quality check after rotor repair
    Rotor repairs
    Over several decades, Sulzer has developed innovative repair methods for all types of rotating equipment. All these methods have been meticulously tested and qualified to ensure they provide optimal quality while remaining cost-effective.
  • Reverse engineering
    Re-engineering provides customers with an alternative for sourcing parts for their equipment. Whether looking to upgrade components, quicker deliveries, or replacing parts, re-engineering provides an opportunity to ensure your equipment keeps running at peak performance.
  • Our welding procedures for components reduce costs for your machinery
    Weld repairs
    Decreased performance of your gas turbine means lost production. Sulzer has developed many proprietary welding procedures for components. They will restore performance, reduce costs, and increase the lifetime of your machinery.

Understanding what’s important to our customers is at the heart of our service principle. We continually invest in our capabilities and draw on our expertise and experience to ensure we meet our customers’ needs. In this case, we were able to deliver a full repair to “as-new” specifications

Li Jian - President (APAC) | Sulzer Services

The Customer Benefit

A good-as-new unit to secure the plant’s production reliability

  • Close partnership between Vung Ang power plant’s operations team and Sulzer’s team of engineers ensured that the unit regained reliability.
  • These recovery technologies brought upon the generators and steam turbines almost original. We can even say that it is ‘reset’, with technical specifications that ensure long-term operation of the Turbine-Generator.
  • By opting for a repair instead of a new unit replacement, the customer achieved substantial cost savings.
  • Turnkey expertise from metallurgy, manufacturing to technology and supply chain allowed us to give the energy supplier exactly what they needed: a fast, reliable, highquality repair.
  • With their good-as-new unit, the energy supplier is poised to fulfill its mission of delivering energy security for the grid and community.

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